Bridgestone Abandons Crisis-Wracked Venezuela After 62 Years

CARACAS, Venezuela — Tire maker Bridgestone is selling its business in Venezuela after six decades in the country, the latest blue chip company to abandon the country as a result of runaway inflation and strict currency controls.Bridgestone Americas says in a statement Monday that it is selling its Venezuela assets to Grupo Corimon, a local industrialist. It says the company will be called Alice Neumáticos de Venezuela. Bridgestone says the sale will have no financial impact because it already has written off its investments in the crisis-wracked country.The Nashville-based company joins other foreign multinationals including Halliburton, Ford Motor and Procter & Gamble who have either slowed or abandoned their investments in Venezuela.